Clarendon House Publications

09/06/2025

In many ways, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an early example of an Irony, a precursor of a type of literature that was to hold sway over much of the Twentieth Century. The idea that humanity is dual in nature, and that somehow a darker self waits to emerge from within the psychology of an otherwise sane man, is a powerful forerunner of the kind of psychological thriller of later decades, and the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ has gained such purchase on the imagination that it has entered the language. That fact that Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one and the same person does not emerge fully until the last chapter, so that we confront the theory of a dual human nature explicitly only after having witnessed Hyde’s crimes and his ultimate eclipsing of Jekyll…

In many ways, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an early example of an Irony, a precursor of a type of literature that was to hold sway over much of the Twentieth Century. The idea that humanity is dual in nature, and that somehow a darker self waits t...

07/06/2025

As previously discussed, poetry lies at one end of a spectrum: poems are by definition highly precise, usually much shorter, concentrations of meanings and sounds, regulated and shaped by the gaps, holes, absences or vacuums both in sound and in meaning which create the pulse we know as rhythm. Whereas a writer can safely use prose to transmit broad meanings, exact and intense experiences tend to move towards poetry by their nature…

As previously discussed, poetry lies at one end of a spectrum: poems are by definition highly precise, usually much shorter, concentrations of meanings and sounds, regulated and shaped by the gaps, holes, absences or vacuums both in sound and in meaning which create the pulse we know as rhythm. Wher...

06/06/2025

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06/06/2025

Writers, who is it that writes?

The most infamous and annoying question asked of writers is ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ It may be annoying, but it’s worth a closer look…

Writers, who is it that writes? The most infamous and annoying question asked of writers is ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ It may be annoying, but it’s worth a closer look. Coleridge’s 'Kubla Khan' sprang from his drug-fuelled imagination intact, and would have been longer had an insura...

05/06/2025

Eliot continues the theme of reconciliation or transcendence of opposites introduced in the first two sections of Little Gidding in the poem’s third section. But whereas we have in the beginning only observed the oxymoronic juxtapositions of images, and then, in the following section, been told where they point by the ‘ghost’ of a ‘master’, in this section Eliot takes a didactic tone and is more explicit, guiding us through an argument…

Eliot continues the theme of reconciliation or transcendence of opposites introduced in the first two sections of Little Gidding in the poem’s third section. But whereas we have in the beginning only observed the oxymoronic juxtapositions of images, and then, in the following section, been told wh...

04/06/2025

Volumes and volumes of opinion exist as to what gets results in education. A rapid consultation of newspapers, political statements, even discussions with educational professionals, usually results in this list of preferred reforms (in no particular order):

• new head teachers
• new types of schools
• smaller class sizes
• more homework
• more teaching assistants
• more money for schools

But a recent comprehensive study finds that none of these are the key to success.

That’s right - none.

Volumes and volumes of opinion exist as to what gets results in education. A rapid consultation of newspapers, political statements, even discussions with educational professionals, usually results in this list of preferred reforms (in no particular order): • new head teachers• new types of scho...

03/06/2025

Doctor Strange’s very earliest appearance in July 1963 was in the pages of Strange Tales #110. His original run, drawn by his creator, the enigmatic comic book recluse, Steve Ditko arose after August 18, 1955, when Hurricane Diane destroyed the premises of comic publisher, Charlton, in Connecticut, where Ditko was working. Ditko went to Atlas Comics in Manhattan and met Stan Lee. Atlas was soon to become Marvel; Lee was soon to be catapulted to the status of legend, as, a few years later, working with Jack Kirby, he would create the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Hulk. With Ditko, Lee and Kirby put together Spider-Man…

Doctor Strange’s very earliest appearance in July 1963 was in the pages of Strange Tales #110. His original run, drawn by his creator, the enigmatic comic book recluse, Steve Ditko arose after August 18, 1955, when Hurricane Diane destroyed the premises of comic publisher, Charlton, in Connecticut...

02/06/2025

Outlining a theory of how stories really work - a theory which exposes an underlying force or set of forces at work in fiction in the same way that physicists theorise about the effects of the ‘Higgs-Boson’ particle in underpinning all of reality as we know it - means that some people automatically think that I am ‘reducing’ stories to a set of checklisted steps which can be replicated by anyone. I am occasionally likened to a pop music entrepreneur, seeking to undermine culture by promoting a kind of superficial ‘X Factor’ strand in creative writing - a ‘join the dots’ approach to writing fiction which parallels that of placing a keen newcomer in front of a national TV audience in the hope of ‘making it as a star’…

Outlining a theory of how stories really work - a theory which exposes an underlying force or set of forces at work in fiction in the same way that physicists theorise about the effects of the ‘Higgs-Boson’ particle in underpinning all of reality as we know it - means that some people automatica...

31/05/2025

Throughout Tolkien’s major works we can see patterns and resonances of certain images. It is as though the whole edifice of Middle-earth was built like a huge cataract of concepts captured in pictures, a waterfall of ideas pouring down from archetypes to more homely echoes. Tolkien’s creative practice of ‘working backwards’ from an idea or image to discover ‘what had really happened’ results in these chains of images…

Throughout Tolkien’s major works we can see patterns and resonances of certain images. It is as though the whole edifice of Middle-earth was built like a huge cataract of concepts captured in pictures, a waterfall of ideas pouring down from archetypes to more homely echoes. Tolkien’s creative pr...

30/05/2025

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30/05/2025

’Little Gidding’ by T. S. Eliot is a long poem which merits detailed study. It is the culmination of Eliot’s poetry in many ways: a crowning culmination, in which many strands come together…

’Little Gidding’ by T. S. Eliot is a long poem which merits detailed study. It is the culmination of Eliot’s poetry in many ways: a crowning culmination, in which many strands come together. The poem opens in midwinter, at the winter solstice in Huntingdonshire; the sun is preparing to set ove...

29/05/2025

In 1955, poet W. H. Auden was asked by the BBC to talk about The Lord of the Rings. Auden asked Tolkien for some background information about how the story had come into being, and Tolkien replied that he had had very few conscious intentions when writing the book. For example, he said that Ents were not deliberately invented at all, and though he liked Ents now it was largely because they seemed to have nothing to do with him…

In 1955, poet W. H. Auden was asked by the BBC to talk about The Lord of the Rings. Auden asked Tolkien for some background information about how the story had come into being, and Tolkien replied that he had had very few conscious intentions when writing the book. For example, he said that Ents wer...